Author's Note: I've made some major changes to Chapter 3 and have reposted it. Thanks to all of you who submitted reviews. I really appreciate them!
O'Neill stood there, not saying a word. Jack could see he was angry while working on trying to control his emotions at the same time. He waited silently, wondering if the General was going to explode or what.
"What the hell were you thinking?" O'Neill finally spoke up. "I can't believe this," he added. "How many Cadets are we talking about?"
"Just three, sir," Jack said calmly, trying not to get angry over O'Neill blaming him for this.
O'Neill didn't respond, he just stood there staring at Jack, who was starting to resent the implications of what O'Neill was thinking. "It's not my fault," Jack pointed out, breathing deeply in order to keep from overreacting. "I didn't ask to be transported here."
"How did you manage to drag three people along for the ride?" O'Neill asked, apparently not even listening to Jack.
"You're blaming me," Jack fumed, the anger at the injustice of it all causing him to spit out the words. "Why are you blaming me for this? It's not my fault," he said again, glaring at the General. That guy can be such a bastard!
The General just stared at him for a minute before sighing as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I know that Jack and I apologize for accusing you. It's just that you have no idea what I am going to have to do to fix this screw up." He stopped at that and took another minute to gather his thoughts together. "You can't face the Goa'uld alone. Even I know that," he continued. "I'll send SG-1 along the minute they get back. You and the other Cadets are expected back here in ten minutes to be debriefed."
"No can do General, sir," Jack said, "Thor wants to do a diagnostic scan to make sure the transporter will transport us. He's worried that there may be a problem with it. After all, he was aiming for you. It may take some time."
"How much time?" O'Neill asked.
Jack shrugged, "A couple of hours?" he said looking over at Thor. "General, I'm willing to get a head start on tackling this Goa'uld. We can get the lay of the land and determine the best way in for SG-1," he continued.
"We?" O'Neill asked.
"The other Cadets and I," Jack replied.
O'Neill just stood there staring at him. "You've gone over the deep end, haven't you?" he asked warily.
"No sir," Jack said with a grin. "They've had a lot of training and this would give them some exposure to even more training. It's better than sitting around waiting for the Asgard to fix their transporter," he added.
"Facing a real live Goa'uld is not my idea of a good training program Cadet," O'Neill said. "The Goa'uld play for real."
"You have a point," Jack said, as he happened to agree with the General.
"O'Neill," Thor said surprising both men. The alien had apparently worked the controls to allow his own hologram to interact with Jack's. "I prefer that we not wait until SG-1 shows up. Algin may decide to leave the planet at any time, making it harder to conquer his forces."
"It's not that easy Thor," O'Neill said. "SG-1 is currently dealing with a society that needs to be treated with kid gloves. If SG-1 up and leaves in the middle of the negotiations, we could lose any hope of gaining an alliance with those people. Of course, we may lose out anyway, but it would be better if we gave it our best shot."
"Then I suggest Gallagher go in their place," Thor said. "I will attempt to transport weapons and supplies for his use."
"No you won't," O'Neill said. "He can't go alone and the others are not ready for a mission of this magnitude. It would be suicide."
"Do you not have faith in yourself?" Thor asked, his dark eyes staring at the General.
"Huh?" O'Neill asked. "Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. What does that have to do with this?"
"If you believe you could do it, why can you not believe Gallagher could do it?"
The silence following that statement was complete. Jack watched the General as he contemplated the Asgard's words, wondering what was going on in that mind. He was still willing to give it a go, even as he worried about the safety of the others. He knew that they had a good chance of scouting and laying down the groundwork for a full scale attack and still get out of there alive, but he also knew that there was a definite possibility that one of them could get killed. Jack wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with the end result of this particular mission.
"I will attempt to transport the weapons," Thor said again with finality. Jack and the General stared at each other and Jack had the eerie feeling of understanding exactly what the General was feeling. He shook it off, figuring it was because they both were thinking the exact same thing. This had happened before and he took a mental step back - it was all too weird for him to deal with.
The General apparently agreed with him because he too shook his head and looked away. He brought his attention back to Thor and tried one more time to reason with his friend. "Look Thor, I have a responsibility to oversee all aspects of this program. Those people you brought along with Gallagher are now officially a part of it and it is my duty to make sure they stay safe. They have not had enough training to take on a Goa'uld, let alone an entire army."
"The people on that planet are desperate for their freedom," Thor said. "Would you have them wait for the freedom you value so dearly?"
Silence filled the room while O'Neill thought about the consequences his decision would bring about. Jack looked back toward the Cadet's, who had apparently decided to keep their own comments to themselves for the time being. Jack did have to wonder about the smirk on Grady's face.
"I believe that Gallagher will succeed," Thor continued when no one else spoke up, "just as you would O'Neill."
"Yeah," the General said with a sigh. "What do you need?"
Jack wasn't so sure this was such a good idea, but he also happened to see Thor's point. The Goa'uld needed to be eliminated soon or the people on that planet faced a long period of time as slaves. Not a good thing, in his opinion. Not to mention the fact that Earth owed Thor's people a great deal. "Well, for starters we could use some BDUs. We'll definitely need Zats and P-90s. I take it you'll want to wait and send explosives with SG-1?" he said, then continued when the General nodded. "Knives would be a plus. We came here in between classes, so we pretty much need everything. Speaking of classes, will you be making arrangements to keep us from getting kicked out of the Academy?"
"Oh God," O'Neill said with a grimace. "You have no idea what I am going to have to go through to fix this screw up," he said again. "The things I do for you..."
"And I appreciate it, really I do," Jack said, grinning at his counterpart. The grin faded as he said, "We'll be careful out there, Jack."
"You'd better be careful," O'Neill insisted. "I'm already going to have to struggle with this problem for at least a week. I don't even want to think about the nightmare of straightening out the added problems if you don't."
"The Cadets who came with me are Rachel Martinez, Bradley Craddock and Robert Grady. I can't speak for them, but I had an exam scheduled for tomorrow."
"I'll see what I can do," O'Neill said. "Don't let me down, Gallagher."
"I won't," Jack replied. He continued to stand there even as the control room faded from view and he found himself back in the confines of the Asgard ship. Thor was maneuvering the stones on the console and Jack figured he'd be seeing all kinds of goodies transported up any minute now.
He looked around and saw the three Cadets staring at him. "We've got a job to do," he told them as he put his hands in his pockets. "It's gonna take some time telling you all about it…."